You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you're too busy; then, you should sit for an hour.​-Old Zen Saying

Extended Practice Key Points

Active Concentration and Focus

We're going to actively practice the mental acts of concentration and focus for a longer period of time during this session, using the below audio to guide us. As we have in the past, we'll use the breath as a point of focus. Let's try it briefly right now:

Take a deep breath and notice where you feel it, often at the tip of the nose, the upper lip, or the bridge of the nose. It may be helpful to close the eyes to help you pinpoint that spot. Now exhale to and notice the sensation of the air at the same point. Usually the air is cooler going in and warmer leaving your nose.

During the practice, concentrate on that point and continue to observe the breath.

It may be helpful to imagine sawing wood (if you've ever done that). You don't look at the whole saw, but focus on the small place where the saw's teeth are digging into the wood.

Don't try to control your breath--just breathe without effort, without making it deeper or longer. Just let the breath take care of itself.

Your breath should be silent and the rhythm will vary. You may even notice repeated patterns: in/out, long/short, smooth/ragged, deep/shallow.

Thinking and Sinking: ​How to Deal With Both

Thinking is just that--the "yack." Just note and refocus. Sinking is when your alertness slides down into either dimness or even sleep. Notice and reconnect with your physical sensations.Reminder: MT is NOT relaxation. It's aim is calm alertness, which is developed by practicing a strong, energetic attention to a single point.

Academic Applications

Increased focus and concentration, especially under stress or in demanding situations

Improved ability to do one thing at a time vs multitasking. Research debunks the idea that multitasking is more efficient than doing one thing at a time.

Greater comfort and ability to be with one's self

Mental discomforts can be not so scary: "Those monkies are in fine form today..."

Key Points, cont'd.

6. Everyone has "monkey mind" so don't freak out about yours. Mind wandering and jumping around, "yack" will occur constantly. It just does. Just note it and label it...

"thinking"

"daydreaming"

"worrying"

"impatience"

"criticizing"

whatever...

...and then return to the breath. This process will need to be repeated over and over again.

7. You might feel crazy--you aren't! When you actually notice the background noise in your head it can feel really unpleasant, even frightening and out of control. However, it's no different from what goes on every moment, every day. Just note/label/refocus.

8. Noises and motion will happen outside. Note, label, and refocus.

Posture Tips

Adjust your seat height and angle so that your back is relatively straight, and also relaxed.

Check how your legs are arranged--a position with both legs evenly balanced is preferable, e.g., both feet flat on the floor, if sitting in a chair, or crossed evenly if seated on a cushion, vs sitting with one leg crossed over the other.

Just let the breath flow naturally in and out of the body, and let the belly move freely with the breathing.

Let your spine move with your breathing, so that you can be sure you're not holding yourself rigidly.

Make sure that your hands are supported so that there's no strain in your shoulders or between the shoulder-blades.

Take a few deep breaths into the upper chest to allow your chest to open. Relax on the outbreath, but see if you can keep a sense of space across the front of the chest as you do so.

Adjust the angle of your head so that the back of your neck is relaxed, long and open, and your chin is slightly tucked in. Your head should feel like it's balanced effortlessly atop your spine. Viewed from the side, the ear is directly above the shoulder, which is directly above the hip.

Relax your jaw, your tongue, your eyes, and your forehead.

Let's Give It a Try

Both of these practices are about 20 minutes long. The audio file comes from UCSD Health and was recorded by Steven Hickman. The YouTube practice comes from New Mindful Life http://newmindfullife.com/ The artist is a female.

In the next week:

Do at least 2 formal meditations per week. One should be the sitting meditation, with or without the audio.

Practice informally as often as possible, aiming for several times a day. Even one minute per day is beneficial. Doing it consistently even one minute per day helps to make it a routine. Once you practice for a minute, you may not want to stop!

Cultivate a "begin again" practice--you can begin again whenever you've fallen off, as many times as necessary. A little is much better than none at all.

If you are doing this session for class credit, please click on the document below to complete and turn in.